Hand-raising experience

Hand-raised pies survive in this country, but only just. If they disappeared it would be a tragedy, not because they belong to the fabric of our culinary heritage, but because they taste so good.

They are simple to make so, as chefs are always banging on about a return to simplicity, why not roll up your sleeves and have a go. It just takes know-how and practice.

If Dickinson & Morris's Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe hadn't re-opened after a fire in 1992, Melton Mowbray pies would have become extinct. You can bet food manufacturers would have gone on using the name, but the product would, at best, have been a poor copy.

All 29 employees at the shop, from manager Stephen Hallam to the women working on the tills, know how to hand-raise a pie (some know better than others) - and that's unusual for what is basically a high street bakery.

But there's still a long way to go before the town catches up with its past. In the mid-1870s it despatched thousands of pies around the country every day. Today Dickinson & Morris makes about 4,000 a week.

The secret of hand-raising is 50% technology and 50% knack. Attendees of the 1995 Chef Conference at London's Hotel Inter-Continental back in February witnessed Hallam raising the paste up the sides of a wooden "dolly" in under a minute.

Only a hot water crust provides the characteristic crunchy texture of a raised pie. The boiling water and lard gelatinise the starch. When it bakes it hardens without becoming short and crumbly or tough. This texture lasts for at least four days and won't soften like the outside skin of most pâtés en croûtes.

Raw pastry should be avoided at all costs. If the pastry is too thick or underbaked it will have the thick, inner coat of white paste often found in larger raised pies. Hallam says: "Always bake the pastry and the filling will look after itself."

Another problem to avoid is over-flouring the work surface, which can be especially tempting for a learner. Over-flouring will cause burning and blistering of the pastry.

The importance of the dolly

So-called raised pie recipes often tell the domestic cook to raise the dough around a jam-jar. It may well work, but a professional chef should invest in a wooden dolly. The dolly is a cylinder of wood with a handle on top. For a 1lb pie the cylinder should be 23/4in in diameter and 31/2in high, plus the handle. Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe owns a few antique ones, but it also had others run up for it by a local turner. Wood absorbs fat over time and it's easier to prise the raw shell away from it.

Adapting the pie

The hot water crust tradition was very strong in Britain during Victorian times and Melton Mowbray had rivals such as Pytchley (a game pie), Market Harborough (with sage and pork), veal and ham pies, a Cumberland pie (containing mutton and mixed fruit) and in Scotland a small mutton pie known as a "Tuppeny Struggle". Oldbury Tart, with a gooseberry filling, also uses hot water crust.

In the town's heyday, when there were at least five shops and a factory making the pies, the pork would probably have come from Tamworth pigs.

The better the pork - it should be on the fatty side - the better the end product. If you use the modern, leaner breeds, you risk a dry, dense filling which comes away from the edges.

To make the pie

Makes a 1lb pie:

220g (8oz) roughly chopped pork shoulder (including a little back fat)

about 1/2 tsp salt

1 level tsp pepper

1 billet of pastry

egg wash

1 pastry lid

METHOD

Combine the meat and seasoning. Form into a ball and chill. Temper the billet of pastry until it becomes workable. It should be shaped like an ice-hockey puck.

Lay it on a very lightly floured surface. Put the dolly in the middle of it and press down.

Raise the pie up the sides of the dolly: keep the cutting edge of the palm on the work surface.

Keep the thumbs on the shoulder of the dolly.

Raise the pie with the palms, turning the dolly. Don't use your fingers or the pastry will not be even. When the dough reaches the top of the dolly, it's ready.

Note: beginners may want to turn the dolly on its side and roll the pastry to ensure even thickness, but this is unnecessary once you have the knack.

Remove the dolly by pushing your thumb between it and the pastry and gradually easing it free; it helps to keep turning the dolly.

Fill the pastry case with the ball of pork. Avoid air pockets.

Brush the inner rim of the pastry with egg wash. Fit the lid in place and seal. Make eight thumb-and-forefinger crimps around the edges.

Brush the tops with egg wash, but not the crimps. Make two air holes in the top.

Note: at this stage, Hallam will usually rechill the pie before baking.

BAKING

Preheat the oven to 235¼C/450¼F. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn down the heat to 180¼C/350¼F and continue to bake until the pastry is done - 50-60 minutes more. Remove from the oven and cool.

JELLYING

Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe's jelly is based on 20 large pork trotters to 10 gallons water. Boil for 3-4 hours, strain and build up to yield 10 gallons again.

Jelly is injected into the pie at the rate of 1fl oz per 1lb pie. For the best result, the jellied stock at 80¼C should be poured or injected into the hot pie.